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There’s just something about best friends, isn’t there? They always know your quirks and qualms. So when one of my closest, dearest friends sent me this recipe the other day, I thought: “She knows me way too well!”

My friend just invested in her first slow cooker and was researching recipes when she came across this one. Knowing about my not-so-secret love affair with my own slow cooker, she passed it along to me.

Balsamic Roast Beef

I never thought I would say this — but I’m getting sick of pulled pork. It’s probably my favorite thing to make in my crock pot because it’s so easy and delicious. But we have it ALL OF THE TIME and I’m starting to OD on it. So when my friend sent me this recipe, it spoke to me. It’s uncomplicated AND involves a meat that falls apart when cooked low-and-slow. Yum.

my 3-year-old said “It’s Yucky!” with that sly little smile that means she’s saying something she doesn’t mean. You know — the smile that only 3-year-olds can give. Then she cleaned her plate! (veggies and all!)

The Hubs thought it was great and had seconds!

my friend, who I invited over to try, loved it.

So thumbs up all around, right? Wrong.

Personally… I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. Not because it’s a bad recipe, but because I’m just not a fan of ‘sour’ meat. I’ve never been. I try, but it’s just not my thing. But, in this recipe’s defense, the sourness was very subtle.

I also thought it turned out too dry. It didn’t pull apart as easily as, say, my pulled pork. I think it would be helpful if I used a smaller cut of meat in the recipe so there would be more liquid to make it more moist. That might help.. in my book.

So I’ll make it again for my family who loved it — it just might be on a night when I have book club.

Give it a try… you might think differently! Then, tell me I was wrong!

Like this:

After my last post about breaking my addiction to pasta, many of my friends suggested I use spaghetti squash instead of tofu noodles. Little did they know I already had spaghetti squash in my sights. (cue evil laugh… bwah-hah-hah!!)

Considering some of my favorite words are “crock pot,” “curry” and “spaghetti,” this was high on my ‘Recipes to Try’ Pinterest board.

They weren’t kidding when they called this ‘super-easy!’ Just follow their quick-prep directions, toss everything in the crock pot and go! But be careful you don’t buy a squash that’s too big. Mine almost didn’t fit into the crock pot once it was split in half. And it made much more than my family could eat.

This dish was very flavorful. My 7 year old typically snubs his nose at curry dishes, but he cleaned his plate and asked for seconds. My 3yo gobbled it up. My husband also really liked it. Very surprising considering I accidentally bought the ‘hot’ red curry paste in my rush through the grocery store! Yikes!

The person who surprised me the most was my 5yo. This kid is ALL about spicy! He eats a mound of wasabi straight when we go out for sushi! He puts spicy horseradish sauce on his steak! He started eating Lamb Vindaloo at 18 months old!

But this squash — he wanted nothing to do with it, saying he doesn’t like curry! I was SHOCKED!

I served this with baked flounder and sautéed spinach. Probably not the best pairing, on my part. But I’ll make it again because it’s different than most of the recipes in my usual repertoire and oh-so-simple.

I spied my first sight of fall leaves at our park the other day and nearly jumped with joy!!

Oh! I love it so much!! I have to say it again!

FALLLLLLL!!!!!!

The air is crisper, cleaner. Out come the comfy sweaters; in go the dreaded bathing suits. The kids are back at school. Hooray!

And we can’t forget the wonderful foods that return with Fall — apples, pears , brussels sprouts, root veggies, squashes. All so comforting and delicious on chilly autumnal nights.

Most nights in the Fall and Winter, I use my slow-cooker. I throw everything in and let Old Trusty do the work for me. It’s a savior when the after-school activity schedule gets the best of us.

So I do a lot of soups and stews — and I made one of our family’s favorite Crock Pot meals this week: Butternut Squash Soup.

Slow-Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (on the medium-large side)

1 apple (I used red delicious), peeled and chopped

1 box of chicken stock, low-sodium (veggie stock works, too)

1 can cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained

about a 1/4 cup of diced sweet onion

about 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

cumin, to taste

nutmeg, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste (I use white pepper)

croutons (optional)

Get To Work:

Pierce the squash with a fork several times all over and microwave it for 2 minutes. Check it to see if the shell is starting to get soft. If so… you’re good. If not, nuke it another minute at a time until the shell gets soft enough to peel with a veggie peeler.

While the squash is in the microwave, saute onion and garlic in olive oil on your stove top.

Peel the squash, scoop out the seeds, and cut the squash into 1-inch cubes.

I like to serve with croutons… and a side salad and some bread. (on this particular night, I didn’t have crusty bread. So I served it with some dumplings I had in the freezer.)

There are never complaints at our table when I make this. Everyone loves it.

And I particularly like that the cannelloni beans become a hidden ingredient in this dish. They add protein to a veggie dish and make it creamy without the added calories of cream. It’s my favorite trick to use in soup recipes that call for cream.

It’s a standard meal in our house especially on busy, chilly, fall nights.

You know those nights — the ones where one kid has soccer, one has baseball, you have Back To School Night, the Hubs is working late. Those are the nights when everyone is running in different directions, but you still want to bring everyone together to the table.

We had nights like that twice this week. (I know. We’re lucky. Many of you have to swing this scenario most weeknights.)

On nights like this, I pull out Old Trusty: The Crock Pot. And tonight, I’m going to share one of the two meals that came from my kitchen wing-man. (Sorry ’bout the forthcoming pun….)

Slow-Cooker Chicken Enchiladas

One night’s dinner was an adaptation of this recipe from allrecipes.com. (If you haven’t visited this site for dinner inspiration, you should.) I find most of the recipes 1) call for things I already have on hand; and, 2) are easy and quick to make.

I followed the recipe fairly closely, but kept out a lot of the spicier ingredients. Here’s how I did it:

Spray the slow-cooker with the cooking spray. (spray liberally — those tortillas will STICK!)

Line the bottom of the slow-cooker with 3 tortilla

Cover the tortilla with 1 cup of the chicken, the can of corn, a sprinkling of garlic salt and chili powder (to taste) and half of the cheese. Pour about 1/2 of one can of enchilada sauce over it.

Top the mixture with 3 more tortilla, the remaining cup of chicken, the can of black beans, another sprinkle garlic salt and chili powder (to taste), the remaining 1/2 of the cheese, 1 can of enchilada sauce.

Top this with the remaining 3 tortillas and the remaining enchilada sauce.

I’m going to tell you what. The pictures don’t make it look like much but it was SO easy and very tasty!

And my family liked it — the Hubs even asked me to put it into the regular rotation! My 7-year-old “isn’t really a fan of black beans” (his words) but he ate everything else on his plate.

In my opinion: Winner! Winner! Chicken Enchilada Dinner!

Later, I’ll share the other recipe my Crock Pot slaved over while I was on the run. (and — SPOILER ALERT! — the kids LOVED IT!)

I flirt with the idea of exercising more. I flirt with the idea of saving more money. I flirt with the idea of posting on this blog everyday. Fail. Fail. Fail.

And now I’m flirting with the idea of going caveman, and trying the Paleo Diet.

Sorry if this is TMI but I have a lot of friends who, like me, are becoming ‘women of a certain age.’ We all complain about the same things: weight issues & health issues. My friends who have made the switch to Paleo swear it’s made differences in their lives. Some post amazing pictures of their physical transformations all over Facebook. Others talk about how it’s helped improve their overall health and well-being. It’s pretty inspiring.

Still, I can’t help but imagine how difficult it must be to change one’s diet so radically, especially when children are involved.

I haven’t posted in a few days because I haven’t had much to write about. My son turned 7 the other day, so there was a lot of celebratory eating going on during his week-long birthday bonanza: pizza, chicken nuggets, ice cream cake. You know the drill. Not to mention the fact that we’ve been at the pool almost every night and taking a lot of fun day-trips, so we’ve had our fair share of (gasp!) fast-food. (I know, I know… Bad Mommy. Slapping my wrist right now for you.)

But I’m intrigued. So I gave a Paleo-inspired meal a try. Not too bad:

Paleo-Inspired Slow-Cooker Coconut Chicken

Put a bag of baby carrots into slow cooker.

Put 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs on top.

Cover with a can of coconut milk

Add 1/2 cup chicken stock

Add any herbs you feel like and have on hand: I put some thyme, oregano, basil and garlic. (in hindsight, I wish I had thrown in a pinch of garam masala instead and made a coconut curry.)

Cook on high for 4-5 hours until chicken is done.

I served it with fresh chopped tomatoes tossed with basil (Paleo) and brown rice (not Paleo, but keeps the kids happy.)

My husband really enjoyed this and 2/3 of my three birds enjoyed it too. The chicken was so moist and tender. The carrots were so sweet — almost like candy. My now-7-year-old was the one who complained. But I think if I made it again, he’d enjoy it. And I think he would have liked it with the curry seasoning.

So what do you guys out there in blog-land think? To Paleo or not to Paleo? That is the question. Would you do it? Have you? Any tips you can share on how to get started? Any websites you would recommend that wouldn’t require me selling my daughter in exchange for some recipes and advice? Reply if you can… and help a girlfriend out. 🙂

OK — so cold soups aren’t your cup of tea? Let’s get back to basic, old-school family dinners. Let’s get back to Old Trusty – The Crock Pot.

I thought this recipe for BBQ Ribs would be just what my family craves as a break from the more unconventional meals we have had lately. After all, I already know my family loves pulled pork. But I’ve never made ribs in my crock pot and wasn’t quite sure how it would work.

I usually post what ingredients I use and how I made the dish — but for this post, I followed the recipe step-by-step. Following directions is not easy for me (just ask any of my teachers over the years!) but I really felt like I had something to learn here. So I’m linking to the recipe again to make sure my lovely co-blogger can get some well-deserved credit for her recipe.

It could not have been easier. It, literally, took me 3 minutes to put this all into the crock pot and turn it on. And the ribs were DELICIOUS!!! No joke — everyone asked for 2nd helpings! The ribs were moist and succulent and fell off the bone.

The key was standing them on their end in the crock pot — like they’re a picket fence — and cooking them for 8 hours on low. Brushing them with some additional BBQ sauce before serving really added a little somthin’-somethin’.

Now, my main dish was all set. But I had NO idea what to make for a side.

So I hit the pantry — and here’s where I got a little more creative with some help from my friends on the internet. A quick google search for “Rice + Spinach + Salad” came up with some nice options. So I took a couple of those recipes (including this one) and combined them and tweaked them to come up with this:

Spinach Salad with Brown Rice:

Spinach Salad with Brown Rice

For the salad….

Boil-in-a-Bag Brown Rice

about 1/2 of a bag of fresh Spinach (chopped)

sprinkling of feta cheese

Handful of slivered almonds

Red Onion (about 1/4 of a large red onion)

Cilantro (handful)

For the dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

fresh-ground pepper

To prepare: Boil the rice according to the package directions. While the rice is boiling, make your dressing in a jar or cruet so it emulsifies. Then put the salad ingredients into a bowl. When the rice is done cooking, run it under cold water. (I squeezed the bag of rice to remove any excess liquid.) Toss the rice into the salad bowl and drizzle with the dressing (I only used about 1/3 of what I made.)

The results: my entire family loved this recipe. I was surprised that the Hubs liked it, because he notoriously dislikes brown rice. But, he loved it!

Score!

This pairing of ribs and rice salad will definitely go into our rotation!

Crock Pot BBQ Ribs & Spinach Salad with Rice

Guess what — I’m beat. This has been a lot of cooking (and blogging!) So I’m taking tomorrow night off to have dinner with friends! The Hubs and kids can fend for themselves. I’d say there are leftovers… but there aren’t!

Like this:

There’s something about the smell of spaghetti sauce wafting through the house. It’s almost medicinal. One could even call it therapeutic. Homey. Anyone with an Italian mother will know this to be true. I certainly do.

So when my husband caught wind of the smell of my latest ‘make-ahead’ meal tonight, his eyes perked up.

“Spaghetti and meatballs???” he asked hopefully.

“Nope,” I replied. “I’m trying NEW meals for my blog!”

I’m not going to lie. He looked a bit crest-fallen. After all, spaghetti and meatballs is one of his favorites. Same goes for our kids. And since my family loves it, I make it. A lot.

But tonight I went in a new direction and tried something I’ve never made before: linguine with red clam sauce. And, of course, I used “Old Trusty” so I could toss this meal together and go. The Crock Pot.

Linguine with Red Clam Sauce & Steamed Green Beans

Can I get a ‘Hollah!’ from all of you who love your Crock Pots?

I always turn to it for these types of comfort foods that work when you have places to go, people to see. Typically, Red Clam Sauce is made on the stove top. So I was pretty stoked when I found this recipe on Taste Of Home.

I threw it all together in the crock pot at 3pm for a 6pm dinner (although I think you could add some water to the recipe and cook it on ‘low’ for longer.)

I didn’t have an onion in the house (the horror!) so I used dried chopped onions. And I used garlic powder and dried herbs.

No matter. I thought this was delicious.

Having grown up in New Jersey, where great Italian food is more prevalent than McDonald’s, clam sauce is my own personal litmus test. (we all have one!) I would always order white or red clam sauce to know if the restaurant was a place worthy of my patronage.

The sauce tonight was thick and rich and delicious. Full of clam flavor which didn’t overpower the tomatoes. Just enough garlic. Salty without making me pucker. Yum.

So I served it up with a side of green beans steamed in the bag (4 minutes while the pasta cooked.)

Everyone devoured their dinners in minutes.

My 5 year old — who will eat just about anything I put in front of him — had THREE helpings! (and then he asked for a FOURTH!!)

My 6 year old had 2 helpings.

My 3 year old had 2 helpings.

The Hubs had 2 helpings.

Pretty successful, right?

Nope.

“Z” — my 5yo — loved it and wants me to make it again.

Everyone else wants me to stick to Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Oh well. Isn’t the point of this blog to expose us all to cooking and eating new meals?!? YES!!!

We’ll try again tomorrow.

Oh… and tomorrow’s meal is already made!! I had a few minutes today while putting the sauce together, that I prepped for tomorrow’s dinner and…. here it is!!!

A week or so ago, a reader asked me if I could post some ‘make-ahead’ meals. She’s a busy mom of three active, athletic boys and she wanted to know if I had any ideas for dinners that could be made in advance of those late afternoon activities.

That got me to thinking. Right now, our evenings are only taken over by our 6-year-old’s activities. But our 5-year-old will be starting a similar schedule next year. And our 3-year-old daughter isn’t far behind. Soon enough, my evenings will no longer be blissfully filled with kids doing puzzles while I grill and sauté and mix away. Instead I’ll be on soccer fields and baseball diamonds until 6:30-7:30pm and my Three Little Birds will need dinner STAT.

We have had a taste of this already. This year, after CCD and baseball and soccer practices, I would walk in the door at 6pm and need dinner immediately ready in order to avoid meltdowns. I often turned to my beloved crock pot. What sanity-seeking mom wouldn’t? And we had some regular fare in our rotation:

But now it’s summer. And as delicious as all of these meals are, I want the tastes of summer.

So last night, I sat down with my grocery store circular, my shopping list, and my computer to find some good make-aheads meals. I’ve come up with several, and my hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the week include making all of them and posting them here.

First up — tonight’s meal:

Slow-Cooker ‘Fried’ Chicken, Potato Salad, & Steamed Broccoli

‘Fried’ Chicken: I’ve ‘liked’ Skinny Slow Cooker on Facebook for a long time and am always ‘pinning’ and ‘liking’ their posts. Everything sounds so darn delicious! So when I was looking for a slow cooker recipe that wasn’t quite as heavy as the others in my repertoire, I naturally turned to this source first.

Tonight was a great night to try this. We had a little league game and didn’t get home until close to 6pm. I had seen this Skinny ‘Fried’ Chicken a while ago, and it kept nagging at me. How can you ‘fry’ chicken in a crock pot? They seem to have the answer. Here’s the recipe I followed, although I didn’t have buttermilk on hand. So I made my own buttermilk by mixing a little less than a cup of milk with 1 Tbsp of lemon juice. (I’ve read that you can also use white vinegar in place of the lemon juice.)

I’m sure it was an error on my part (I think I’ve previously mentioned that I’m a bit of a monster in the kitchen) but the chicken emerged from the crock pot more mushy than fried. It was delicious and moist, but definitely not crunchy.

Also, I thought the spices could use a bit more something-something — a little pepper? A little garlic? Perhaps I didn’t add enough salt. I don’t know. I just needed a little more oomph.

I’m so sad, because I’m a cult fan of the Skinny Slow Cooker gals. But I’d definitely try making this again. The kids all ate it. So did the Hubs. But I could probably make it again with better results. Let me know if you try this and have a better outcome.

Steamed Broccoli: I made this in my favorite kitchen tool. Ever. It’s Pampered Chef’s Micro-Cooker. I bought it way-back-when in my single days and it’s been with me through 3 moves, the making of a family and countless dinners. You chop your broccoli, add about 1-inch water, cover and microwave for 1:30-2 minutes. Done. Steamed veggies. If you chop your veggies and have this ready in your fridge to just pop in the microwave, you’ll be done with dinner in no time. I use this ALOT and you’ll see if often this summer! Asparagus, green beans, snap peas. They all are awesome when steamed in this. And they’re done in seconds.

Potato Salad: Confession — (you’ll se a lot of ‘confessions.’ I’m Catholic, after all. We’re all about that!) — I didn’t make the potato salad. I was standing in line at the deli counter today and it looked good to me. So I picked some up. Sue me. It WAS good. You’ll notice I like to cook — but I’m relatively lazy. So if I need to supplement a meal with a store-bought side, so be it. (although my mom makes KILLER potato salad, which I really need to make and post here.)

I’m not going to tell you what’s planned for tomorrow because right now I’m debating between two different menus. But I will say they’re both good meals to come home to after an afternoon at the pool!

This meal vanishes from my kids’ plates! While it’s not exactly an ‘experimental’ recipe for my family, I thought I’d mention it as a possible one to try if you’re feeling adventurous. And, thanks to the crock pot, it’s perfect for a busy weeknight meal.

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Like this:

I love turkey chili. And I particularly like Weight Watchers 4pt Turkey and White Bean Chili.

Problem is: I’ve served it over-and-over again and the kids NEVER like it. But that doesn’t stop me from trying. (mean old Mommy!) 🙂

I guess I just think I’ll wear `em down! Keep serving it to them and then – VOILA! – one night they’ll suddenly LOVE it and beg for more!!

That didn’t happen tonight.

My 6yo is this dish’s most vocal opponent. In recent months he has declared he doesn’t like turkey; he doesn’t like chili; he doesn’t like white beans.

Humph. This is problematic when one is making Turkey & White Bean Chili.

So, first, I ‘eliminated’ the white beans by blending them and then adding them to the chili. As for the turkey, I couldn’t do much about that. But since it looked like a soup (since the beans were blended), we called it soup and sprinkled cheddar and cilantro on top and hoped for the best.

No dice. Our 6yo wasn’t buying it. But, after many tries with this meal in our house, our 5yo and 3yo finally did! They ate all of it, especially with promises of dessert. And all three of our kids LOVED the Caesar Salad we served with it (I used Dole’s Light Caesar salad in a bag.)

So, in the words of Meatloaf, two out of three ain’t bad. If two of my kids eat something, I consider that a win. And the thumbs up from the Hubs is pretty great, too.

Eventually, I’ll win over my 6yo. Try, try again. Right?

Here’s the recipe for any of you who would like to give it a go. I’ve also made it in my crock pot before and it turned out really well. I also keep it pretty mild and eliminate the chilis and cayenne. http://www.laaloosh.com/2009/02/10/weight-watchers-white-bean-turkey-chili/